


A Dance of Dragons

by Merenrys



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: AU, Blood, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gen, Genocide, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Incest, Mutilation, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:48:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27580061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merenrys/pseuds/Merenrys
Summary: Tyranny had taken its place under the rule of Aerys Targaryen and for the people of Westeros, living one more day was a miracle. The Mad King and his dragon spread fear and corpses whenever they go, leaving no one safe from the same fire that had burned King's Landing. Twenty-three years of fear, fire and blood. Yet a young smith finds his way to live a decent life in Flea Bottom, under the constent threat of Aerys and his Gold Cloaks. Until the day a stranger knock at his door, a curious stone he needs him to open.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Jon Snow/Ygritte, Khal Drogo/Daenerys Targaryen, Sandor Clegane/Sansa Stark
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	1. The stranger with a stone

Hitting an anvil has been his life since he was a boy. His oldest memory was him and his foster father hammering swords. Thanks to Tobho he had a trade that paid well enough to have a full belly when he was going to bed. Not everyone of the smallfolk could say the same. He was the best of the street of Steel because he learnt from the best. Sometimes he misses Tobho. He disappeared without leaving a note. Sometimes he thinks his father is still alive, hidden somewhere but the hard truth is he’s probably dead for years. That’s what happen when you are an enemy of King Aerys. For what he knew about his father, during the reign of the previous king he was a member of his court. Tobho had gold in his hands, he was able to make a weapon out of anything and the rumours said he was the last man alive able to work Valyrian steel and even more, he knew how Valyrian steel was made.

It was a day like any others before. He was preparing a sword for a wealthy lord. The king was preparing a tourney in a few weeks and all the lords and knights of King’s Landing wanted to have the best swords, the best armours no matter the price. It was during tourneys that a lot of the merchants made most of their annual profit. Everyone was increasing their prices because of the outside population coming into the capital, oblivious of the actual price of things within the city. Everyone was doing it; it was the only way to make profit and to have meat at least once a year. And when your work is really good and already expensive, you can call that a good year. Unfortunately the King wasn’t making a tourney every year. And he had to pay those who work for him: two young orphan boys. He knew the money he gave to the boys was stolen from them by the cupid septa. More than once, the boys had hide in his shop to avoid coming back to the orphanage.

“Gendry!” yelled a young man outside his shop, “Gendry!”

“Easy, Hot Pie. What’s going on?”

“The King… announcement… Baelor.” Panted Hot Pie, he had run all the way from the inn he was working in.

“What?”

“The King… is making… an announcement.” Hot Pie was trying to get his breath – and his heart – back to a normal pace. “I heard a gold cloak saying that he’ll be in front of the Sept of Baelor in thirty minutes.”

“You heard that when?”

“We don’t have the time!”

“We’ll see that.”

Gendry called the boys and locked his shop before running to the Sept. It was considered a crime not to attend one of the King’s announcement. The gold cloaks were inspecting the houses and shops of the whole city to be sure no one was missing. If they found you, you better have a good excuse for not attending the announcement. The only good excuse was being dead or almost. If you don’t have a good reason to be at home, you’ll be the next public execution.

King Aerys Targaryen wasn’t the most popular king. Actually everyone hates him. For obvious reason: he took a throne that wasn’t his and kill the previous king. King Robert was loved by everyone. He was the kind of king to make appearances every day in front of the Sept and to make tourneys every two months. King Aerys was the opposite kind of king. Ruthless and completely mad. And his dragon made him even more frightening. Tobho had told him, when he was a kid, that Aerys came to King’s Landing with his dragon, Balerion, and burned the whole city. There was more to the story but Tobho had never tell him the whole story.

The sound of trumpets made Gendry’s heart beat even more. To the point he thought his heart would stop beating. Hot Pie, the boys and him arrived just in time. The King and his queens were walking toward the platform. Aerys had three wives. If Gendry remembered well what his father told him, the queens Aerys had now were different from those he had twenty years ago. He remarried for the first time when Gendry was four. His wife was twenty and from the great house Lannister. Cersei gave him three children: Prince Joffrey, Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella. Her father was Lord Hand Tywin and she was the last member of her family. Both of her brothers died of unknown circumstances. His second wife was fifteen when they married and came from House Greyjoy. It happened fifteen years ago. Yara Greyjoy had tried to kill her husband during the ceremony but was stopped by her uncle and Aerys’ Master of Ship: Euron. She tried multiples times to escape the Red Keep unsuccessfully. Aerys’ last wife was Margaery Tyrell. A young beauty he married five years ago, when she was seventeen. Unlike Yara, she hadn’t tried to kill him during her wedding ceremony but she did try to escape.

The three queens were followed by their own bodyguard and Cersei’s children. With the royal family were the Hand of the King and some members of the Small Council. The King was a young man, younger than Cersei. But he was a Dragonlord. It meant nothing to the smallfolk, people whose everyday life was about surviving the day. Apparently being a Dragonlord, or dragon rider – again Gendry didn’t understand the difference and didn’t care – keep you young for a long time.

Suddenly, the sun disappeared. People started to panic. After twenty-three years of reign, the people of King’s Landing were still afraid of Balerion the Black Dread. He was so large that his shadow covered all of King’s Landing. Balerion's scales and wings were black. His fire was as black as his scales but sometimes swirls of red appeared within depending of the sunlight and his teeth were as long as swords. Balerion is always where his rider is. And at this moment he was on the Sept of Baelor looking at the crowd with his black eyes.

“My dear subjects. Today I’ve learned that the rebels plotting against me had tried to enter the city. Two of their men had been apprehended and will be executing right now, in front of you. The rebels are menacing the peace I’ve created. Westeros had never been better. I’m the first king to have establish a kingdom where you, the smallfolk, need nothing. Starvation is no longer. Crimes have decrease since my coronation. But the rebels want to fragilize this peace.”

Gendry rolled his eyes. How can someone say so much bullshit in less than a minute? People were starving in front of his shop and yesterday a man got killed in a brothel for a peanut. Actually, since Aerys’ coronation, things never been worst. The oldest of them remember what it was like to live under king Robert, it wasn’t always joyful but at least no one feared to be burn alive. Gendry didn’t know how things were outside of the capital. Time to time, he heard outsider talking about the living conditions in different regions of Westeros but they were wealthy people, except for the taxes, they had nothing to complain about.

The rebels were Aerys’ worst thorns in his side. They weren’t at war against him, properly speaking and nobody knew who was the leader but most of Aerys’ forces were fighting them. Smallfolk like Gendry and Hot Pie had no information about where those people were located but everyone was expected them to took the throne away from the Mad King. There were whispers about a rightful heir to the throne. Robert’s long-lost child. A daughter he had shortly before Aerys took the throne. Some said she was in safety in Pentos or somewhere in Essos, others supposed she was leading the rebels. But she could do nothing as long as Balerion was alive. Why a girl? No idea. Once, Tobho said a medium prophesised to the king he would have a girl destined to do great things, a true leader of men.

The two rebels were brought in front of the crowd. Even if they didn’t want to do it, the people started insulting them and throwing them whatever they had in their hands, this was better than facing Aerys' wrath for supporting the rebels. A noise, like a thunder, miles away from the capital, came out Balerion’s mouth. He climbed down the Sept and positioned himself in front of the two rebels. They seemed unimpressed and they didn’t beg for mercy when Balerion open his jaws. His black fire burned them and no scream was heard. If he could, Gendry would have clapped for their courage but all he could do was clapping for the fake justice Aerys brought. His oldest son, Joffrey, was as sadistic as his father. He approached the ashes of the rebels and kicked them with his foot, laughing out loud. If he wasn’t a prince, he would have pissed on them. Just to add insult to injury.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The next day, it was like nothing happen. Speaking about the rebels was prohibited. If you were caught speaking about them, even in bad terms, you had a one-way ticket to the jails. Gendry was working in his forge when a stranger appeared out of nowhere. He was wearing a long cloak with a hood on his head. One of his boys let him entered and guided the stranger to Gendry’s anvil. For small work, that didn’t need a huge amount of work Gendry trusted the boys to do it, for specifics requests Gendry preferred to do it himself. So, if the boy was leading the stranger to him it could only mean that it was too tricky for the boys.

The stranger lifted his hood. He was a young man, about Gendry’s own age. Although he looked confident, fear was dancing in his eyes. He had long blond hair and ordinary blue eyes. His clothes weren’t new, without a doubt he had been wearing them for quite a while. Only his bag was new. The leather was rigid and the buckles shiny. The stranger opened his bag and took a big stone covered by a dark piece of cloth. The young man put the stone on the anvil and shown the stone to Gendry. It was bigger than any other stone the blacksmith ever saw. It had golden veins here and there but it was a stone for sure. About the size of a melon – a fruit he saw once, as a child – and heavy by the way the young man put it on the anvil. Gendry stared at the stone a long time. Strangely the stone seemed to be warm.

“What do you want me to do with that? I’m no goldsmith,” said Gendry quite bluntly.

“Open it.” Well, he wasn’t kinder than the blacksmith.

“What?”

“If there’s something precious in it, I don’t want any goldsmith to take it. Besides, the stone is too hard for their tools.”

“You haven’t seen a lot of goldsmith.”

“Well, I –”

“It wasn’t a question.” Gendry looked at the stone. It will require a lot of strength to open a stone that big but he could ask a lot of money for it. The stranger was new in town, maybe he got lucky by finding the stone. Yes, maybe Gendry had found the perfect dumbass to scam. He wasn’t very proud of it but with this money he could buy the boys’ liberty. “Alright, I’ll do it. But if my tools broke, you’re paying for new one.”

“How much?”

“Depends on what will break. Maybe ten stags for the all equipment.”

“Alright.” Gendry cursed himself. Clearly the stranger had enough money to spend, not to be bothered by spending ten stags for an equipment that cost less than a half of that.

“Will discuss later about the price of the opening.”

Gendry took his tools and gloves from the back of his shop. Usually, Gendry never wore his gloves. The heat from his forge is so intense that he can’t stand having gloves. Besides, the gloves made his work less precise. But the stone looked so hard to open he preferred to wear his gloves. His hands were his most valuable tools after all. It would avoid any cuts but not the impact of the hammer.

The stone was put on the anvil. Gendry looked at it to find any weak spot but it was perfect, like crafted by a man. He took his hammer and a cold chisel and started hitting on the stone. The problem was the stone form. It wasn’t really round, more oval, like an egg, but on its side, it fell every time Gendry was hitting it and it couldn’t staid straight if no one was holding it. Gendry had to stop one of his fires to put the stone in the coal in a way it wouldn’t move. But even like this there was no progress by the end of the day. He hit the stone with all his strength and there was not even a scratch on the stone. 

Again, Gendry advised the stranger to bring the stone to someone with the appropriate tools but the stranger didn’t move. Whatever was in the stone, the stranger wanted it. He gave a leather purse full of coins to the blacksmith.

“I can pay double, but I want it done.”

“Listen. I don’t know who you are or how this stone can be valuable, but I do know that: I can’t open it! So take it back before I do to you the same I’ve done to the stone.” Gendry hadn’t put his hammer down and the stranger looked at it, frighten.

“What about heat?” he added quickly. “We haven’t tried to put it into the fire and hit it.”

“It’ll take days to have a fire that hot. Besides, I don’t let my forge’s fire lit all night long. It’s too risky.”

“What about the one in the middle. There’s nothing around that can catch fire.”

“I can’t keep an eye on it when I sleep.”

“And the boys?”

“Alright.” Now the stranger was getting on his nerves, “Why it’s so important to open this stupid stone? How can you be sure there’s something precious in it?”

“Open it first, I’ll answer after.”

“I don’t think I will. You answer my question or you can find another blacksmith.”

The stranger took his stone from the coal. As he was going to put it back in his bag, Gendry stopped him. One of the golden veins was wider than before. The stranger touched the veins and declared he felt like a hole in the stone all the way down the vein. Because it was on the opposite side Gendry had hit all day, none of them could have seen it. The two men realised something: it was the side that was in direct contact with the coal, therefor with the fire’s heat. The stranger idea wasn’t so stupid at this moment.

The stranger said he was ready to keep an eye of the fire while Gendry would sleep if this can open his stone. Not too sure about that, Gendry refused the man’s help and, instead, went to the orphanage. He explained a well-constructed lie to the septa and kept the boys with him. Afterall, he wasn’t really lying when he said he needed help to finish all the work he had. The boys were more than happy when Gendry told them they were allowed to stay as long as he needed them.

The three of them watched over the fire the whole night, one after the other. It never been that hot in the forge before. No even in the worst summer days. Unfortunately, it was the worst of Summer. That night Gendry had a dream. He had never dreamt before. Well, he had but it was always down-to-earth dreams about what will tomorrow brings.

This dream was different. He dreamt about a black and golden shadow. The shadow had a coal black eye on the right and a molten gold eye on the left. But the strangest was the voice he heard in his head. The voice sounded like a thousand of years of wisdom were talking to him. He couldn’t understand a word but something in him made him feel at ease. _I risk nothing, he doesn’t want to hurt me._ Gendry had no idea why he was sure the shadow was a friend, but he didn’t care. The shadow twirled around him like a tornado of darkness and heat.

Gendry woke up peacefully. He wasn’t exhausted by this dream. The peace he felt inside his dream was still there. Outside, it wasn’t the same. A thunderstorm, like never see before was raging. All the dogs of King’s Landing were howling through the night. The boys were shivering, in the arms of the other, trying their best to do like the storm wasn’t happening. Gendry allowed them to go to bed – or hide under it if it could ease their fear – while he would make sure the fire stay under his control.

The flames around the stone, gave to the rock a mesmerising appearance. For the first time, Gendry saw the stone wasn’t polished as he first thought, there was tiny imperfections, like fish scales, all around. For a second he thought the hole the stranger felt was just an imperfection but, deep down, he knew it wasn’t that. Carefully, and with his gloves, Gendry took the stone from the fire. Normally he would have felt intense heat, even with the gloves, but he felt nothing. Oh, it was warm, but not the same warmth as the fire. It was something more human, something Gendry was familiar with. For a split of a second he even though feeling a move inside the stone but he chased that though away. The stone had fell so many times, maybe Gendry had broken what was inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first it was supposed to be a GoT/Eragon kind of crossover maybe there's a bit of this still in the writing and some ideas I had about the story. I don't how long it'll be for now there's three chapters writen but it might be quite long.
> 
> Apologies, I wrote that Balerion is the size of ALL KL but after some research I came across various people saying KL might be up to Medieval Paris in terms of size which is already quite large and even if the Balerion of my writing is bigger than the one in G.R.R. Martin's books, he's not THAT big. I've done some calculations and my Balerion would be about 605 meters in terms of lenght (about 1984,91 in feet) so KL is roughly 4,84km² (1,87mi²), if I'm not wrong in my calculations.
> 
> FYI: I've chose Paris during the early 16th century (yes it's not really Middle Age times but close enough), plus to find about KL's size I went on Quorra, ASOIAF Wiki Forum and GOT Wikia to be sure but if you have clearer data about KL I encourage you to tell me, in order to correct myself.


	2. What was inside the stone

Three days. They had to wait three days for something to finally happen. And it was by mistake. The storm was getting worst with each day passing by. Due to the weather Gendry had to close his shop and the stranger didn’t come. No one would walk under a storm that violent. On the third day, the boys were playing while Gendry took care of the last piece of an armour he had to make for a pompous lord. Twice the young man told them to stop playing around the stone. He couldn’t stand the idea of the stranger taking it back once the storm would stop. It felt like the stone was his, he spent so much time with it, it was natural for him to keep it. He had the same dream the following nights without any change. It was the exact same dream. The same shadow and the same peaceful feeling when he woke up.

Gendry was hammering the armour for the last time when he heard a loud _bam_ and the boys shouting. Gendry made a silent promise to never have children, they are too much problems for their small size. He put down his hammer and approached the boys. The stone was on the floor and one of the boys – blond of hair with brown eyes – was wearing Gendry’s gloves. When they saw Gendry, they started accusing the other. _Children are the worst,_ he thought. He couldn’t remember having been like this at their age. He was calmer, wasn’t he? He took the stone and turned to the boys.

“How many times did I told you not to play around the stone or to touch it?”

“Sorry, Master Gendry. It was an accident,” swore the blond boy. “We wanted to turn the stone, like you said but it was so hot that I burn myself, even with the gloves!”

“Hot?” it never felt hot for Gendry, warm yes, hot never. He shook his head, “Anyway, go to bed, it’s time. I’ll stop the fire.”

“But the man?”

“If after three days on a blazing fire didn’t cracked it, I won’t crack it. Nothing will. At least, we gain some money out of this. Go on, now!”

The boys ran to their beds. After three days, Gendry had broken most of his tools and got sixty stags. Ten for the tools and fifty to open the stone. A stone, that wasn’t open. A shame he couldn’t keep the stone. He had sent a letter to the stranger, well at the inn he was staying, to tell him he couldn’t open the stone and he would wait the end of the storm to give it back.

Gendry realised he still had the stone in his hand. The boy’s words came to his mind. If it was that hot why he wasn’t feeling it? There was bit a warmth but the stone was cold. He touched it without gloves and felt nothing strange. Well, except the warmth was coming from inside the stone. He rose the stone to have a better look at it. One of the veins had the form of a lighting. While tracing it, Gendry felt something kicking inside. Surprised he let the stone fell from his hand. In the process the stone cut him. The cut wasn’t deep on his left palm but now there was blood on the stone.

With his two hands Gendry made sure not to drop the stone again. Marvelled by the coal black stone he put it on his stomach once he was on his bed, ready to sleep. He felt the stone getting warmer and warmer but it didn’t bother him. He kept a hand on the stone, to avoid any move from the rock and, peacefully, he let the darkness take control of his mind.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Gendry never snored. But someone was snoring right next to his ear. At first, Gendry thought it was one of the boys who climbed on his bed to have so comfort while the storm was raging outside but he was more than shocked when he opened his eyes.

Can a dragon be described as cute? Because this one was. A coal black little thing, with big eyes and small coal black teeth. Golden veins were running over its body. One began at its right golden eye, like a scar, and stopped at the end of its biggest horns, on its right part of his head. The dragon had rested its head on Gendry’s shoulder and was looking at him, like a pup looks at its mother. It was as big and long as a stray cat kitten but the smoke that was getting out of its mouth was no kitty thing. Unsure, Gendry rose his right hand and gently caressed its little head. The scales were warm but wet.

Suddenly, the man realised where the dragon came from. Abruptly, he rose up from his bed. The dragon hissed but held on. His claws on his wings pierced Gendry’s shirt. It was like a small version of Balerion. With two legs and bat-like wings. Gendry found the dragon’s egg. It was cut in two, on the floor, near his bed. Out of curiosity, Gendry looked if there was something inside. He was disappointed to find nothing. At least, now he could give it back without feeling guilty for the excessive money he took from the stranger.

A lighting shone in the morning sky, frightening the dragon who hissed against the storm. It really was the cutest thing he ever saw. The creature climbed onto his shoulder and scratched his head against Gendry’s cheek while his tail was gripping his neck for balance. The dragon stretched his neck when Gendry return the favour and scratched behind his jaws.

“How something so adorable, can become a monster like Balerion?” the dragon titled his head. “You’re sure you’re dragon and not a dog? I’m sure you’re hungry.” The baby hissed again to confirm the man’s words. “Let me check if the boys are asleep. Then I’ll find you the best meal in town.”

Gendry left a note for the boys, in case of they woke up before he came back. Then he took his bag and put the small dragon inside. No one could see him. Him? Or her? Was there a way to find out? The dragon jumped in the bag and made himself comfortable with the scarf Gendry put in to hide the creature. Gendry took his cloak to protect himself from the rain outside.

The way to Hot Pie’s inn was, without doubt, the path Gendry knew best. At this hour with this weather, it was sure the inn was closed. Except from the people who took a room at the inn, no one would come. Hot Pie had a room next to the kitchen. His window was broken and, therefore, couldn’t shut correctly. Fortunately for the two young man, nobody was aware of the broken window. It was their door when they wanted to go somewhere after the curfew imposed by the king. The real door was fine but made too much noises and could woke up the whole city.

Carefully, Gendry knocked at Hot Pie’s window. Nothing. He tried again. Nothing. He knocked louder and this time Hot Pie heard. He opened his window and let his friend entered. The good thing with Hot Pie’s house was its location: it was warm in winter and during storms – like this one. Only during the hottest of summer it was unbearable to live there. Hot Pie wasn’t the only one to live and work at the inn, two waitresses and another cook had their room in the inn. The two friends greeted each other before sitting at the table to drink something that will warm them up.

“What can I do for you?”

“Do you have raw meat?” Gendry felt a kick from his bag, “Cooked meat?” he whispered to the baby dragon. He heard he contented growl. “Sorry, not raw meat but cooked meat.”

“Of course. It’s for the boys?” Hot Pie disappeared for a couple of minutes then came back with the meat. It was big enough to feed the boys and Gendry, the man felt bad for his friend. He had to told him the truth. “So?”

“Well… can you keep a secret?”

“No.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I. I never been able to keep a secret, that’s no news. I can’t even keep a secret to myself. Please, tell me nothing!”

Hot Pie was on his knees, begging his friend. He perfectly knew that Gendry was about to tell him something he was sure he couldn’t keep secret. But Gendry couldn’t hide to Hot Pie the little dragon in his bag. He made his childhood friend swore to him to never talk about what he was going to tell him. Hot Pie refused the first twenty time, the problem was Gendry persuasiveness on his friend. There was nothing Hot Pie could refused him, one way or another he yields.

The dragon felt Gendry’s hands around his tiny body. The baby purred the moment he felt the hands of the man. The dragon wrapped his body around Gendry’s arm, warming him up more than he needed. The dragon smelt the meat as soon as Gendry pulled it out of the bag. The piece was too large for the dragon yet it was up to the challenge.

Hot Pie jumped of his seat when he saw the dragon’s head. He never liked dragons. Balerion was scary and large, a furnace with wings, unstoppable. Not matter the size, all dragons were evil and dangerous for Hot Pie. The baby smelt the meat before taking a small bite. The baker was mesmerised by the behaviour of his friend with the creature. He was acting with the dragon like it was a puppy or a kitten. Scratching its head, below its chin and in-between its wings. Smoke got out the dragon’s mouth like a hiccup and the creature smiled – yes, it smiled – at Gendry who smiled back.

“Seven hells, Gendry, where did you find it?” Hot Pie was at the other side of the room, looking with fear at the dragon, Gendry asked him to sit but he was too afraid of the creature on his table.

To calm down is friend, Gendry told him about the stranger and the egg he thought was a stone. It was still strange for the young man; he had some difficulties to wrap his head around the idea a dragon was born when he was sleeping. He knew nothing about those ancient creatures. Hot Pie asked for descriptions of the stranger and then recognised him. He was one of the travellers sleeping in the inn for about a week. Hot Pie was the one who advise him to seek Gendry’s help for his stone. If he had thought the stone was actually the egg of a dragon, Hot Pie would have sent the man straight to the gold cloaks and the king.

“You should get it back where it belongs! It doesn’t have its place here!” The dragon hissed at the cook.

“I think the dragon don’t like your tone and the pronoun _it_.” Laughed the blacksmith.

“And how I’m supposed to call the dragon? Does it have a name?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know what gender the dragon is. Maybe they don’t have gender.”

“You should give the dragon to the king. There’s a reason he’s the only one to have a dragon. We could get killed for that.”

“Yes, you can.”

The stranger was standing in front of the main door, a knife at his throat. The knife was held by another man hidden beneath a dark cloak. The dragon climbed on Gendry’s shoulder and hissed at the two men. Hot Pie was to terrify to move but Gendry knew how to fight, he wasn’t counting the times thieves and gold cloaks tried to take what was his. He never liked violence but when obliged, he could be lethal. Even though he never killed anyone, he was ready to change that. The stranger glared at him and the dragon. He understood his stone was an egg and whatever he thought was inside was less precious than the little creature hissing at everybody.

“Don’t worry lad. I’m not going to hurt you. Pack your things, we’re leaving.” The man threatening the stranger was old, his voice was giving away his age but it didn’t make him more trustworthy, “Come on!”

“How can I be sure you’re not going to steal the dragon and kill me?”

With a swift movement, he slit the stranger’s throat and dropped his knife on the floor to push it with his foot, away from them both.

“I’m not your enemy, lad. But you’re in big trouble since the little buddy is awake. I have a horse waiting for you outside. You’re in danger. Both of you, I’m trying to protect you.”

“I’m going nowhere. Not without Hot Pie and my boys.”

“Who?” Gendry pointed Hot Pie with his head. “Alright, he can come. You know how to ride a horse?”

“Yes.” Said Gendry but Hot Pie shook his head to say the contrary. “He’ll learn.” Tried to reassured the young man, “You’ll see, it’s not that hard.”

“And the boys?”

“At my shop. They’re working for me, and because of the storm they can’t come back to the orphanage.”

“We don’t have time for that. Your life is far more valuable than two orphan boys.”

“That’s not up to you to decide.”

“Anyone who knows about the dragon is in danger. They’ll find you and kill you!” yelled the old man.

Gendry put his bag on his shoulder while the dragon was crawling inside. Since the door was open, Gendry left not without pushing the old man away from his path. At first, he walked to his shop, then the old man’s words made their way to his brain and he understood the boys were in danger. He remembered the note he left behind. He ran. Fear leading his way, making his heart beat faster than a running horse. With each new step, Gendry could feel his guts being torn apart, frighten about what could happen to the young boys he swore to protect and to help have a better life. He didn’t trust the old man about his own safety but he trusted him about the danger part.

His heart stopped the moment he saw his door. It was on the floor. Gendry entered, fearing what he might see. It was mainly a huge mess. His tools were on the floor and the horses were out of their stall. There was nothing too alarming yet. Except for a strange smell coming from his bedroom. Carefully and without a sound, Gendry picked up a sword and made his way to his bedroom. He opened the door. And entered.

The sword hit the floor before any words could come out of his mouth. Anywhere he looked there was blood. One of the boys was on his bed, the egg in his hand, the other one was everywhere in the room. They had been butchered with a violence Gendry rarely saw. Throats slit, stomach opened, eyes pierced and others atrocities they shouldn’t have known at their young age. Lommy and Edric. Two young boys. Only Lommy was still in one piece. Gendry took him in his arms and cried while hugging him and asking him for his forgiveness. He shouldn’t have let them all alone. He should have brought them with him.

Sadness transformed into anger. Gendry couldn’t give the boys a proper burial but he knew who killed them and he could avenger them. He went to the stable, in the third stall and retrieved his gold and the warhammer he made for himself. He was good with a sword but he never trained enough to be as lethal as he was with the warhammer. He saddled one of the horses, a black stallion of wealthy lord. He heard the man calling him Coal, because of his coat. He let the other horses fleeing in the city.

Hot Pie and the old man arrived when Gendry was in the middle of his shop, ready to do the only thing that matter. The old man entered the shop and he didn’t need a word from Gendry to know what happened.

“I’m sorry lad. How old were they?”

“Ten. Both.”

“You won’t be able to kill those who’ve done that by your own.”

“I know. But I still can piss off the king before leaving.”

“Do what you have to do but we have to leave. Quickly.”

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The fire took easily. No matter how much it rained, nothing could stop the fire which Gendry started. He knew he wouldn’t come back in King’s Landing and his shop was big enough to start a gigantic fire throughout the city. He said a prayer for Lommy and Edric, hoping they will both find peace in one of the seven heavens. The dragon had found a place on Gendry’s shoulder and tried to cheer him up but failed.

The three men had taken shelter in the Kingswood. From where they were the fire burning King’s Landing was still visible. Like a sunset. Gendry and Hot Pie had never known something else than King’s Landing. They were born there. Strangely, none of them felt something while watching the city burning. Hot Pie thought of his colleagues at the inn, he hoped they had time to flee. Gendry wanted the fire to burn the Red Keep and to destroy it, alongside the king and his dragon.

“Let’s go, we have a long road ahead.” The old man spurred on the horse he had stolen before fleeing the city. He had gave the horse he came with to Hot Pie but the two of them didn't get along, the horse snorted and tried to escape from her rider’s hands. “Easy lad. Try to be gentler with your reins, they’re too short, you’re hurting her.”

“It’ll be easy to walk!” complain Hot Pie.

“He’s always like that?” asked the old man to Gendry. He sighed when the young man confirmed his fears, “It’s going to be a long road.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to post every two weeks, it will depend on how fast I am to write. I already have Chapter 3 writen but I won't post it until Chapter 4 isn't fully writen and I have only one paragraph and a bit a dialogue.
> 
> And yeah, the baby dragon is cute okay! Baby Drogon was freaking cute and I try as much as possible to have the baby just as cute, I had in mind what a puppy and dragon would look like mixed and it was babay Saphira that popped into my head.
> 
> See you soon for a new chapter.


	3. On The Road to...?

“It’ll take about three weeks to reach our destination you better get used to her,” said the old man to Hot Pie the following night. Hot Pie was massaging his butt hoping the aching would stop.

“Where we’re going?” asked Gendry still suspicious about the man. “And who are you? What do you want from me? How can we trust you?”

“Won’t it be faster by the Kingsroad?” asked Hot Pie while preparing the supper.

“The Kingsroad? The King’s road? Doesn’t it sound like trouble to you? Your friend just set King’s Landing on fire, they’re probably looking for him right now, if they manage to stop it. The further we are from the road, the safer it’ll be for us. As for my name it’s Davos. And you can trust me because of the little lad on your shoulder.”

Gendry looked at the dragon. He or she was sleeping peacefully, smoke coming time to time out of the nostrils. Davos told him if the dragon was sleeping so well it was because he trusted him, because of his smell, the dragon probably recognised it from somewhere else.

“How can you be so sure? What do you know about dragons?” coming from someone who had just been lucky to hatch an egg, Davos thought Gendry was a bit too aggressive for his own good.

“I’m no expert but I know one or two things that might be helpful for you. First, they only eat cooked meat, their—”

“I know that, I’ve already feed him.” Davos didn’t seem to mind being cut when he was speaking and continued his explanation. “Their belly doesn’t digest raw meat. Any raw food is vomited or shitted within the minute. It can cause them huge pain. Second, there’s a whole book about dragons where were going. You how to read?” Gendry nodded. “Good. Now rest. We’ll leaving before the first light tomorrow morning.”

Davos left his seat around the fireplace. Hot Pie wasn’t as suspicious as Gendry. For him if that man had wanted to kill them, he would have done it earlier, especially him considering he had no dragon to give value to his life. But three weeks on horseback, with the storm still raging, Hot Pie wasn’t really happy. His horse wasn’t listening to him: when he wanted to go left, she was going right; when he wanted to right, she was going left! Nothing he could have done could have improve the situation. She was a stubborn mare. Gendry had no trouble with his stallion, nothing seemed to scare him. Hot Pie always thought Gendry had this heroic presence. Now he had Coal and the baby dragon, Hot Pie could definitely see his childhood friend being one of these heroes from books that rescue princesses, save the world without breaking a sweat and kill the bad guy or the dragon at the end of the book. Well, maybe not the dragon all thing considered. On this thought the baker fell asleep.

Gendry couldn’t sleep. Not because of the baby dragon snoring at his ear or Hot Pie moving like a salmon going upstream, but because every time he closed his eyes, he saw the butchered bodies of Edric and Lommy. If only he hadn’t left a note. But how could they know it was him who had awaken a dragon and not someone else? And they had been so fast. Was he watched all this time? Tobho once told him it was possible because of his former position even if he had changed his name and most of his physical traits. Maybe the king had found Tobho the day he left and made sure to keep an eye on Gendry in case of his father still being alive. Gold cloaks probably had seen him with the dragon. Was the life of the baby more valuable than the one of Lommy and Edric? Davos seemed to think so.

“Can’t sleep lad?” Gendry turned towards Davos. “Don’t over think their death. When you have the Irūdy you tend to see your loved ones dying.”

“The Irūdy? What is that?” the young man rose from his makeshift bed. He made sure he wasn’t disturbing the baby’s sleep.

“In High Valyrian it means the Gift. Dragon riders call that Dragon-blood. They say the blood running through their veins is the same as the one inside a dragon. That what give them extraordinary abilities and powers, alongside an immortal life. See lad, you’re doom to see you friend over here dying one day. If it isn’t from the blade of your enemy, it’ll be from Time.”

Then Davos got back to sleep. Gendry couldn’t stop looking at Hot Pie, the idea he’ll live longer than anyone he ever knew was terrifying. That was his only fear: seeing his loved ones dying before him. They weren’t much, but they were close in his heart.

As days passed the rain stopped to let a blazing sun warm the air to the point of being unbreathable. The three men had decided to do much of the road by foot, to protect their horse from overheating. After four days of walking under the sun, Davos decided it was more reasonable to travel during the night, when it was fresher. The dragon was the only one who enjoy the hot weather. Gendry discovered that dragons – or at least this one – were not very fond of the cold but boy did this one like water. Once they had stopped nearby a stream the dragon had jumped in the water and spent half-an-hour swimming and hunting fish too big for him. All he could do was to bit the tail or any part of the fish long enough for Gendry to catch it and cook it. As time passed, the dragon began to be more adventurous, leaving Gendry’s shoulder to climb on Coal’s head. Time to time it tried to fly, opening its wings and bating up and down but it always ended the same: a meeting with the ground below when Gendry couldn’t catch the baby in time.

The young man was still amaze of the wonder the dragon brought with it. How it was able to push his comprehension of this world further than he thought. Davos wasn’t the best person to tell him about dragons but he sure knew them well enough. When the baby lost a scale Davos knew it was because the baby was shedding, a process Gendry had never heard of but apparently the baby was getting rid of his old skin and scales to grow bigger, he was still in that process. Davos had told him it could take up to a week for a baby to shed, and several months for a dragon half the size of Balerion.

“Dragons never stop growing,” he said one day. “The oldest known dragon was two times bigger than Balerion, no one knows what killed him or if he’s even dead. But your baby for sure is going to shed a dozen time the first year of his life. A thousand for its first century, then it’ll be once or twice every two decades if it’s lucky.”

“How do you know so much about dragons?”

“I’ve heard a lot of stories about them. Plus I know people who are smarter than me and who’ve read books written by dragonlords and dragon-riders. Books can’t lie right lad?”

“Books say what people want them to say,” answered Gendry.

“Not everyone is paid by Aerys, you know.”

“But everyone fears him.”

“Not everyone.”

Gendry wanted to ask Davos what he meant by “not everyone” but he hadn’t had the chance when he heard the sound of horses coming towards him and his fellow traveller. If the old man and Gendry managed to hide with their horse quickly and quite soundlessly, Hot Pie was struggling to make his mare move. She moved her head up and down, taking the reins off Hot Pie’s hands and kicked him off the saddle before running away in the exact direction of gold cloaks. Three gold cloaks to be specific. Two of them were rather tall, approximately Gendry’s height and the third one was a short man with a white beard.

“Look what we have here. Lost your way fatty?” said the old one. He dismounted his horse, his hand on his sword and got closer to Hot Pie. “Lost your tongue boy?”

“Maybe you should help him?” laughed one of the two others. “Why don’t you get the grease out of him.”

Hot Pie tried to escape but the one already on the ground stabbed the baker’s leg and for good measure left his sword in the leg. Time to time he was moving the sword to make Hot Pie screamed. Gendry dismounted Coal, he couldn’t stand to see his oldest and only friend getting murder by three sons of bitches. He took his hammer and walked towards the gold cloaks; Davos did try to stop him but he had no idea of how strong the smith could be. He was too determined to kill the man torturing Hot Pie so he wasted no time to bash his head with his hammer. He heard the skull breaking the moment the hammer hit the bastard, his head was open like a broken egg, his brain splattered on the ground and on the hammer. Gendry had blood on his clothes, bu he couldn’t care less, it felt good to have kill the man, to have been able to save someone and not being the reason the said person was dead. His relief was short lived as the other two dismounted their own horse to attack him. Davos slit the throat of the tallest, Gendry had no idea how he managed to get unnoticed by the two men but he did it anyway. The other one tried to stab Gendry who parry the strike with his hammer’s shaft.

“Wait, I remember you.” Gendry was surprised, he had never seen this man in his life before. “Yes, I remember going in your shop when you weren’t there. You shouldn’t have left those boys alone. I’d say they hadn’t suffered but that wouldn’t be true.” The man grinned at Gendry while mimicking the boys’ screams for help.

Rage took control over Gendry’s body. He massacred the man, breaking his skull until it was only a compote of brain, bones and blood; then he let his rage unleashed on the corpse to the point of piercing the heart and having all the blood within splashing on him. It was Davos who stopped him in his madness.

“He’s dead lad, stop it.”

“He killed Lommy and Edric, he deserves way worse.”

“Take care of your friend, I’ll bury the corpses.”

“No!” shouted Gendry, rage still there somewhere waiting for a good reason to take control again. “They don’t deserve a proper burial, let their corpse rot and get eaten by animals.”

_Take care of your friend,_ repeated Davos before turning his back. Gendry carefully slide the sword out of Hot Pie’s leg, he made sure to put a tissue on the wound at the same time to prevent more blood to come out of the poor baker’s body. It wasn’t the first time Gendry had to tend a wound: the disadvantages of any dangerous profession. He wasn’t counting anymore the times he had hurt himself with his own tools or a piece of broken metal. Tobho had taught him how to tend various kind of wounds, from the slight burning of his fingertips to an eye pierced by iron – Tobho swore it happen once. It wasn’t worth the work of a master but Hot Pie would keep his leg, maybe he’ll walk with a limp for now on but better that than amputation. When Gendry turned to see what Davos was doing, the corpses and the old man were gone, he couldn’t possible left Hot Pie alone and defenceless in the middle of a forest neither of them knew. So he gathered Coal and the mare – who hadn’t gone so far actually – and decided to establish camp nearby, sheltered by a cave tall enough for the horses to enter and deep enough for all of them to fit in it. It was the perfect place to seek refuge, no one could see them from outside once deep in the cave. Gendry left the baby with Hot Pie after making a fire in case of the baker wanted to make diner. The baby rolled himself so close to the fire Gendry feared he would fall into it. Davos came back an hour later, unwilling to tell him what he has done with the corpses.

It was decided that until Hot Pie wasn’t recovered enough to ride, they would stay in the cave. Fortunately Davos ha d enough bandages with him to last four days. After that, recovered or not they’ll had to move. Davos could hunt quite well but the game in those woods were to be disputed with wolves, hungry villagers and bandits; and they were three with a growing baby dragon eating twice his weights.

The cave was comfortable. Well, as comfortable as a cave could. The place was fresh but not humid which avoided the food to rot faster than usual. Gendry had still no idea where Davos was taking them but after what happen with the Gold Cloaks, he was a bit more trustful toward the old man, even if the baby never let him caress its body.

When the fourth day in the cave came Hot Pie was able to walk on short distances without the need of any kind of help but he couldn’t ride, or at least with his skills it was impossible for him to stay on the mare longer than ten minutes. Putting Hot Pie behind one of the two others was excluded: it would have been too much weight for a single, even for Coal who was a warhorse. Because they were friends, it was Gendry who had to walk next to the mare in order to keep her under control and calm, luckily enough Coal was well trained because that mare was no horse but a vicious demon shaped as a horse who knew exactly when to bother Gendry. At the end of the day he was exhausted, she never let him have a break, it was like she knew exactly when he had his guard down. _Clever girl!_ She was infuriating but, in a way, Gendry liked her; she had a temper he had rarely saw.

“Normally she never leaves her rider. She let me borrow her for this time. You see, she’s a racer that one she loves running, if we had more time, I would have found another horse for the lad. But the one I ride is worst than her,” laughed Davos. By the seven gods! The stallion must be a monster then.

“I guess you weren’t expected another rider but me. I mean the one who would open the egg.”

“To be honest with you, I wasn’t even expecting the egg to hatched.”

“Why—” Davos cut him before he could another words. He told him his questions about anything related to the baby had to wait until they reached their destination. “Where we going?”

“You love that question, don’t you?” Gendry was unmoved by Davos’ comment. Since the beginning of their journey the young man hadn’t stop asking this specific question. And every time Davos managed to dodge the arrow, but not this time. “Well, let say it’s the safest place in all of Westeros for you and the baby.”

Davos tapped the young man’s shoulder before taking the first round of watch. That night Gendry dreamed of Balerion; it was a younger Balerion yet he was enormous, bigger than the multitude of dragons that escorted him, they were of various colours and size but still magnificent. At first it seemed like they were all working together but soon Balerion turned against them. He butchered them, reaping some of apart, eating others after burning their cadavers, a real massacre of dragons. Gendry was in the middle of this carnage but the flames of Balerion left him untouched. The sky became as black as coal, like a thousand storms had gather in one only lightened by the fire Balerion. A rumble came from the above the sky into Gendry’s body, it was nothing like he ever heard before. A shadow fell from the sky on the monstrous beast and both engaged in a battle the shadow would have lost normally. The dream changed right before Balerion bit what looked like the shadow’s neck. It was his usual dream; the baby was flying above him and Coal before suddenly growing as huge as Balerion and ravaging King’s Landing like the Black Dread had done twenty-three years ago.

He woke up abruptly. He hated this dream but he knew it was his worst fear. For now the baby was small and not a great threat but it was destined to grow, and if it was like any animals, he would have a phase where it would test Gendry’s authority if it was ever listening to him at all. What if the baby became worse than Balerion? It would be his fault for not listening to Hot Pie who told him many times, when Davos wasn’t around, to kill the baby when it was still small and defenceless. But Gendry couldn’t bring himself to kill a baby no matter if it was a future oven with wings or the greatest steed to ever walked the earth, or fly considering the type of creature the baby was. Then Gendry realised something was off.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, when I published the first chapter, I had no idea that so many of you would read this story considering I'd never really be read on other fanfiction publishing site or my other fanfiction in here. I just want to thank you so much because it just mesmerises me.
> 
> I know my work is full of mistake English isn't my mother tongue, I'm from France, born and raised so if you see mistakes don't hesitate to tell me if it can make my work better.
> 
> See you next chapter or next fanfiction (if you're fan of the MCU, especially of the Winter Soldier).


	4. Somewhere Safe

Waking up with a sword at a mere inch of his left eye wasn’t ideal for Gendry but it was certainly not the worst way he had been wake up though. The person that was holding the sword knew exactly what she was doing. Without a doubt it was a woman, her voice gave her away, but laying on the ground and her standing up on top of him, he was unable to say how tall she was. For now she was dominating him. Even if he couldn’t see her face, he knew she was analysing him: every breath he took, if his muscles were contracting to make a move or not, where his eyes were looking or who he was looking at. Gendry knew she was fully aware of Hot Pie presence, at least she had seen Coal and the mare and she must had come to the conclusion he wasn’t alone. The only thing Hot Pie could do to help his friend was to distract the swordswoman, for now she had no idea who the second rider was. Between what she could imagine and the truth there was a chance for Gendry that she was imagining someone like him. But he had never been a lucky guy. The only bright side of this situation: the baby wasn’t with him at this moment.

“Any last word?” her sword went closer to his eye, she assured him about his quick death even though she dimed him unworthy of such fate.

“Wait!” he wanted to slap himself.

“Poor choice of words,” he had to agree with her, that was fucking stupid. As if anyone who heard those words had ever restrain themselves to kill their target?

“Wait!” this time it wasn’t Gendry who spoke but Davos. Both the swordswoman and the young man looked at him. He was on his stallion, a deer on the horse’s croup. Gendry heard the woman sight of relief as she pulled her sword back then put it back in its scabbard. She ran towards Davos who took her in his arms.

“I thought you were dead!” heard Gendry while he straightened up. The woman was actually small, and when she took off her hood, he saw dark hair pulled in complicated braids both on the top of her head and her temples and were joined at the back of her head. “I saw Dancer but you were nowhere to be seen. I thought this one,” she pointed Gendry with her furious grey eyes, “had done something to you.”

“You took your sister’s horse? You must all have been very worried then.” Davos laughed but it was different from the laughs he had with Hot Pie and Gendry, it was soft and kind. The girl – Gendry thought she was his age if not younger – said nothing but just rolled her eyes then smile. “We had encounter Gold Cloaks on the road we had to slow our pace, one of us is injured.”

“And why do you bother yourself with companions?”

“Show her lad.”

Gendry looked at the fire still burning, the baby was still sleeping there but his trust in Davos had gone the moment he saw the Old Man joking with the woman who tried to kill him. What if it was a trap? He couldn’t risk the baby’s life, nor Hot Pie’s. He shook his head which didn’t surprise Davos, he kind of expected the boy to refuse. He had no idea who the young woman as and she did try to kill him after all, their first encounter wasn’t a happy one, Gendry had been lucky Davos had come back sooner otherwise he’ll be dead by now.

“Listen, you can trust her, we were actually heading to her. Gendry this is Arya, lassie this is Gendry. Now show her the baby.”

“We don’t have time for a baby,” complained Arya, Davos assured her she’ll have time for this particular baby.

She had enough, she passed Gendry who tried to stop her but she was far too agile for him. She had her stature for her, she was so petite she could escape his grasps easily plus she was at the right height to kick his balls. Fear ran cold in Gendry’s veins; dragons had this effect on people. Hot Pie’s reaction when he showed him the baby for the first time was a good example. Arya stopped in front of the baby, it was peacefully snoring or dreaming, she couldn’t tell but it must have been calm enough to keep the baby asleep. She knelt in front of the small creature, she plunged her hand inside her coat, from where he was Gendry could see something that looked like a dagger few inches from her hand. He yelled at the baby in order to wake it up, which worked. The baby locked eyes with Arya but it did nothing to the woman. Actually it seemed curious about her, the baby stood up on his legs and – like a puppy – tried to snort her smell.

“Where did you find this baby?” she asked, unable to take her eyes of the dragon, frozen in her movement. Davos told Arya that Gendry hatched the egg. “He has to see her, you know that.”

“Her? Who is she talking about?” Davos and Arya shared a knowing look. They had some kind of mental which ended with Arya having the upper hand. Davos sighed that Gendry wouldn’t like this but she heard none of it and she didn’t care. “The queen,” she abruptly answered.

The queen? He knew it! It was some fucking trap and he didn’t walk in it but fucking ran inside! There was only one person in the Seven Kingdom that was called Queen: Queen Cersei. Aerys may had three wives but only Cersei was considered Queen Consort and they were leading Gendry, the baby and Hot Pie to Aerys! Without having a second thought Gendry ran to take his hammer, he had no chance against Arya: she was too fast, too agile and she clearly had too much experience in close combat for him to actually hurt her with such a heavy weapon. Davos tried to get closer to the young smith without looking too menacing but Gendry wasn’t going to listen any more of his lies, he had enough of the old man’s words they had brought nothing good to him. For the second time in less than a month someone was threatening his life and the one of his friends. The baby tried to fly to Gendry but was only able to flap his wings twice before falling into the fire. All logic left the young men’s mind when the baby disappeared inside the fire, he let his weapon fell from his hands to the ground. His mind was focused on the baby, nothing else mattered at this moment, just this little being he was sure was scared and dying. He plunged his hands into the fire, they’ll be badly burned but he couldn’t care less, the most important thing was the baby’s safety. As long as it will be safe and sound, it was worth it but it was actually upset not to be in the fire anymore. _Fire cannot kill a dragon_ , was the last thing he heard before everything went black.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When he woke up Gendry was laying on Coal’s crest. His hands were tied together on his back. The baby was in between the stallion’s ears, it titled his head in order to locked eyes with Gendry. The young man saw how much the dragon was happy to see him awake, gently the baby came close to his face to rub his head on Gendry’s cheek and slowly climbed to his usual place: the shoulder. In front of him Davos and Arya were in the middle of a heated conversation in a language he had never heard before. He heard a muffled voice behind him but couldn’t move the slightest, his whole body wasn’t responding then he tried to ask if the muffled voice was Hot Pie but his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, like it was twice its normal size.

“Easy, this drug is strong, we don’t want to give you another dose, it could kill you.”

“‘On ‘o’ a ‘ich,” failed to say Gendry to Davos which only made him laugh. _Son of a bitch!_ He yelled in his head.

Feeling his whole body being the exact opposite of his tongue felt strange, only his eyes were as usual. He could see in front of him and in a way, around him. There were people around him, thick walls of unimaginable heights made of black stone here and there. The walls had seen better days, cracks were everywhere on the top of the walls which was strange. Wasn’t the ground responsible for cracks? Actually there wasn’t a single thing that wasn’t used by time. Behind him, Gendry partially saw Hot Pie trying to yell something at him, unfortunately nothing comprehensible came to the young man’s ears leaving him mostly confused of what his friend wanted to tell him. Hot Pie showed him something with his head, something that was apparently on the top of their head, Gendry tried to turn his head the most he could and saw five colossal towers, he understood they were in a castle but no castle was that big. It was a monster. It was… oh fuck!

He had heard stories about this place, horrible stories of death by fire, a terrible bloodbath that killed all the castle’s habitants. Their ghosts were supposed to still haunt this forsaken place. His should have saw it the moment he had saw the black stones, because they were not naturally black, they had been blackened by the most destructive of fire: dragon fire. The stories say that Harrenhal’s walls were marked by the shadows of the dead, their silhouette frozen in time on the stone in their last moment forever. But Gendry saw none of that, there was people but they were alive, coming and going too busy to look at the four person that just arrived. It was full of life, he could hear hammer hitting the anvil in the forge, horses were napping in the stables, men and women training with various weapon in the courtyard even children were running everywhere.

Davos dismounted his stallion in synch with Arya, two strong men came in Gendry’s direction and helped – forced – him to dismount Coal. The baby hissed at the men, it tried to bite them but they didn’t let it got close enough. Gendry had no intention of helping them, he couldn’t even walk properly his legs were numbed anyway. They caught him right before he fell on the floor then they managed to drag him through halls, stairs and corridors without breaking a sweat or had a pause along the way. By the time they reached what looked like a throne room Gendry had recover full use of his legs but he kept this information for himself, just in case he’ll had the opportunity to flee. Hot Pie wasn’t as restrained as his friend, maybe they thought he wasn’t as much as a threat as Gendry was but he did have a strong punch, more than once he had seen the backer kicked drunken men out of the inn. The guards forced them to kneel in front of a throne made of stone, engraved with dragons. Arya walked to the throne, she stopped in front of the three steps leading to the massive seat but she turned he back to face Gendry. Behind her four figures appeared, one was definitely a Targaryen with silver gold hair but the stature wasn’t fitting Aerys’ body.

“You are standing…well kneeling in this case,” Arya really thought it was the moment to laugh? Probably it was from her point of view, “in front of Daenerys of House Targaryen, the first of her name, rightful queen of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector of the Realm, The Dragon Queen, Lady of Dragonstone and if she had even more titles, she would say them herself.”

No Cersei? No Aerys? Who is this Targaryen? There was only Aerys, his wives and children who bear the name of his house. But she was more Targaryen than any of Aerys’ children, she had those uncanny violet eyes, long silver-gold hair and a perfect pale skin. At her left stand a man older than her, he wore a well forged sword that reminded something to Gendry, he had seen such sword somewhere. At her right stand a tall and slender woman of auburn hair and blue eyes, both of the women wore short dresses with pants and boots as well as pieces of armours on their bust. The last of them four was a grumpy man in full armour and half of his face burned. Daenerys sat on the throne of stone while the auburn-haired woman sat on a smaller throne.

“Thank you, Arya, we can do without the sarcasm. Who are those men? Although we are happy to have you back Davos, I don’t understand why you took them with you?”

“I’m happy to back your Grace,” Daenerys cut him with a kind gesture, she reminded him to never call her that way, he wasn’t a stranger to her, he was a dear friend. “This young man has found the stolen egg.”

“Seven hells! What a relief we thought it was lost forever. Where is it?”

Then the baby hissed at the guard that tried to take him from Gendry. Daenerys and the woman with her ordered the guards to stop. Carefully they approached the man and his dragon, he wanted to step back but he was prevented to do so by the same guard the baby tried to attack. The two women, joined by Arya, came a foot near Gendry and observed the dragon. Daenerys rose her hand, palm facing the roof, she said nothing but the young man understood she wanted the baby to land there. She was lucky the baby was curious; it sniffed her hand. Had the dragon been a dog, he was sure it would have wiggled its tail. Daenerys looked at Gendry, her eyes were shinning with something he couldn’t really tell what it was but she smiled before she let the baby going back to its rightful place.

“Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?” there was no anger in her voice. “Not only you brought back what had been stolen from us but you bring something far more valuable: hope.”

Daenerys ordered the guards to free Gendry and Hot Pie; she was puzzled about the reason why Hot Pie was there. Arya sighed, apparently Davos had argued they could use an extra hand in the kitchen and the boy was a really good baker. After all he had baked all the way to Harrenhal the prays Davos had brought to him into delicious meal and made them last quite some time. The queen couldn’t deny Hot Pie’s skills would be appreciated by all and agreed to keep him, Gendry couldn’t say if his friend was relieved to be alive or terrified but he wasn’t too happy about getting separated from his friend. Daenerys assured the baker nothing will happen to him. Right after Hot Pie left the room Gendry was introduced to Sansa, the auburn-haired woman with Daenerys.

The queen presented Sansa as her own Hand and her sister. This surprised Gendry because they had nothing in common, they were as different as day and night, but the most surprising was that Arya was their younger sister, the last of their family line and the Lord Commander of their army. How could they all be related? One had dark hair and grey eyes, another had light Targaryen hair with Targaryen eyes and the last one was a mixed of the two. Did they have the same mother? Same father?

The two men with Daenerys and Sansa were asked to leave, they argued for a short moment and Gendry heard their name: the burned one was named Sandor apparently, the other was Jorah and none of them wanted to leave the woman they had assigned themselves to but they left nonetheless. Both gave a warning look at Gendry.

“There is something you need to see and I can assure you all the answers to your questions will be given. Follow us,” Daenerys invited Gendry to pass through a door that led to another corridor. She saw hesitation on the young man’s face, clearly, he had limited trust in all of them. “Don’t worry you’re not surrounded by enemies; you and the baby are safe with us. What we’re about to show you will prove it.”

Gendry had to face it: he was alone in a gigantic castle inhabited by an army of warriors even if he managed to flee, he would get lost easily and with his luck he could have ran right into Sandor and Jorah. It was wiser to follow the queen and her sisters. They went outside, crossed most of the courtyard with people bowing in respect at their queen’s passage. All were smiling to her and her sisters, they were attached to them. Gendry had never seen Aerys being supported like they were. If Aerys had crossed Flea Bottom without his Kingsguard he would have end up dead after five minutes there. They passed a gate and Gendry saw a lake not so far from the castle, it was so wide he couldn’t see where it ended. The water was blue and green, clear of any shits and corpses in the contrary of the water running through King’s Landing. Daenerys spoke in the same foreign tongue Gendry heard during Davos and Arya’s conversation, instantly the water – still and calm – began to move and splashed the little group. What Gendry had thought were rocks started to move on their own. Three different waves appeared far from each other; something came out of the water before diving back into the water at an abnormal speed even for a fish – a fish of uncanny length though – plus the angle the fish had when it dive was odd to say the least. Then they came out the water, towering Gendry, three shadows that emerged from the lake and blocked the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took longer to post because of the holidays. Plus I was on an internship in Paris (worst city in France if you want my opinion) so I didn’t have much time to work on the story. Same for the story about the MCU I told you about last chapter I might not published it soon, I have different ideas between two MCU stories and one Once Upon a Time story plus a MCU story that’s 24 chapters long for now but all in French. So I don’t really know if I’ll post another story in the same time as this one, I’ll see.
> 
> I must say I’m always surprised to see so many people read what I write, I know I’m repeating myself but when I posted the first chapter, I wasn’t expecting something like this. I tend to quite the stories I write because I feel like nobody wants to read the things I imagine but it feels good to see that people actually like what I can do with my imagination. This may come from my head but the strength I found to keep writing it comes from you. I know this sound a bit over the top but I really feels that way, so thank you very much.


	5. The Tale of the Father

They were not as tall and big as Balerion but they were three. The first to get out of the lake had black scales – not as black as the baby but the same shade as Balerion – except for his spinal plates and horns that were blood red. His eyes were pit of smouldering red. Although its eyes were on Gendry, its attention was focused of Daenerys. The dragon lowered its head to the point on resting on the ground, she stroked its head just below one of its eyes and Gendry swore the dragon growled of pleasure. The second that left the warm water of the lake was one of golden horns and eyes, but of light-yellow wings and scales. It roared like thousand lions – Gendry had saw those beasts once in his life during Aerys’ nameday tournament. It was so loud, Gendry had to cover his ears, the golden dragon stretched its wings before beating them to, probably, take off them all the water. The last dragon had its silver-grey eyes on Gendry, he heard a menacing growl from beneath the water. It still had most of its body in the lake but that didn’t avoid it to run toward Gendry, its silver teeth showing its willingness to kill him.

“Nymeria, stop!” ordered Arya, calmly but severely. The dragon stopped its attack, its teeth not far from Gendry’s face. He could smell rotten flesh within the beast’s mouth, the baby chose this moment to try its first roar: a high-pitched sound similar to the screams of an eagle only more pitched. Nymeria – or whatever name the dragon had – growled back before turning its head to Arya. “That’s one fearless baby dragon,” she said.

“As you can see there’s not only Aerys who has a dragon. Meet our halves. The black one is mine, Drogon. The one trying to dry himself is Viserion, he belongs to Sansa. And you already know Arya’s unpredictable dragon Nymeria.”

“How do you know their gender?” for Gendry there was nothing that could say Viserion was a male nor that Nymeria was a female, except for their name.

“You can know the gender by the form of the egg,” started Sansa. “if it’s like any other egg, it’s a boy; if it’s more rounded it’s a girl. How was this little one’s egg?” Gendry shrugged, this felt like a life-time happen since the first day he saw the egg. “Don’t worry, you can also see it by the way the horns are placed. As you can see Nymeria has most of her horns on the top of her head, whereas Drogon and Viserion have only horns on the side of theirs.”

The baby had small horns, nearly inexistent, except for the one with the golden veins at the baby’s right. _It must be a boy_ , thought Gendry but he let Sansa observed the baby to confirm his observation. She agreed with him, the baby was a “he”. Now that he knew his gender, Gendry could start thinking about a fitting name for the baby. Daenerys warned him to wait until his personality bloomed, around his second year of existence, but Gendry didn’t want to name him from his personality otherwise he would end up being named like one of those dwarves from this fairy-tale, something like Happy or Joyful. Not very dragon-like. Nothing compared to Drogon, Viserion or even Balerion. Those names did something to Gendry when he heard them, he wanted the baby’s name to make anyone who heard his name feel the same way.

The queen and her sisters brought Gendry back to Harrenhal, closely followed by the three dragons. Daenerys asked more about Gendry’s skills, he couldn’t say why but when he told her he was the former apprentice of Tobho Mott she seemed rather pleased. Did she know about Tobho’s skills? He was famous during the reign of the last true king of Westeros but his name had vanished with him. The queen brought him to the forge, a few feet next to the main entrance. A man was working with a boy not older than Edric. It was wider than Gendry’s forge, actually his forge could have fit three time into this one. Sansa coffed and the smith turned around. He bowed in front of his queen, a smile on his face and a sword in his hand. But when his eyes caught Gendry he froze. The man wasn’t a stranger to Gendry, of that he was sure but it felt like an old memory.

“Gendry? No it can’t be, you’re so…tall,” oh this voice! He could recognise it from afar. He heard this voice yell at him, congratulate him and teach him everything he knew about weapons, armours and helmet. “What happen to the little boy who couldn’t stay focus more than a minute?”

“He grew up. I thought you were dead!” Gendry couldn’t restrain himself and hugged the only parent he ever had. Tobho laughed of joy, he was truly happy to be finally reunited with his boy. Boy who had grew up to become a man of formidable strength. “What happen? Why did you leave me? How did you come to work for Daenerys?” so many questions came to his mind.

“You hadn’t changed a bit I see. Still too curious for your own good.”

Tobho told his new apprentice, named Duncan, to take a break. He guided Gendry to his house, right behind the forge. The last time the two of them shared a drink at the same table, Gendry was twelve. It was the first and only time he had drink Dornish Wine. He could still remember the taste of that special wine. The older man took a bottle of the very same wine and two cups. Gendry took a sip without stopping looking at his foster father, he was bald now, nothing of the mane he was so proud of remained, if it wasn’t for the beard he had grown no one would’ve known he was light haired. He knew his father was looking at him the same way he was.

They exchange about the forge Tobho left to Gendry. He was happy to learn he had prospered even after his disappearance but learning his adopted son had burned it to the ground was quite upsetting. Tobho understood the reasons that pushed Gendry to burn it but he had worked so hard for this forge it was hard for him not to be upset about it.

“Why did you left?” the burning question Gendry had always wanted to ask Tobho. His biggest betrayal. The thing the older man had always regretted doing. The hurt in his son’s eyes was enough to making him close to cry. Gendry was just a boy when he left without an excuse. “I think I deserve an answer after all those years.”

“Yes, you do. But the thing is, I don’t think I’ll be able to go through the whole story without breaking in front of you. I’ve always promised you to be strong—”

“You also promised to never leave my side, to always protect me,” Tobho slouched in front of Gendry. Now he was no more the strong man he had seen all his childhood. He as just an old man with a lot of guilt. “I guess, I’m old enough to be strong for the both of us. And I don’t need protection anymore. I have the little guy here,” the two smiths turned to the baby dragon playing into the flames. Now that he knew they wouldn’t hurt the baby, he let him play with the blazing fire.

Tobho tried to find courage in his cup but he could only see his reflection in the deep blood red of the wine. So he emptied his cup and started his tale.

_It had all begun with the death of King Robert Baratheon by the hand of Aerys – or rather by the fire of Balerion. The queen had disappeared without a trace, some said she had sailed to Essos with her prophesised daughter to keep said child away from the grasp of the Mad King, others said she had died in labour along with the child. Everyone knew she was with a child before Balerion set the city on fire but her body was never found, nor was the child. Tobho had worked too long for the previous ruler to be able to work for the next one without Aerys having suspicion about the smith or blind trust like others had. Many of Tobho’s fellow friends had managed to keep their titles and head by tricking the king into believing in their loyalty to him._

_Tobho preferred to fled into the worst part of the King’s Landing. He had erected a forge-like school there a long time ago to teach youngsters a trade that will help them gain some money and have a good life. Unfortunately, with Aerys on the throne the school had to close its doors. So he took back his forge, pretended to buy it from someone and opened it as a normal forge. He had let his hair grown, coloured them in various colours and paid the Gold Cloaks enough to keep them away from his business and life, something Gendry had always refused to do which might be one of the reasons he was spied on, Aerys never liked rebellious people but the Gold Cloaks hate those unwilling to pay to have peace and rather fight for what they believe should be granted and not paid._

_One day someone knocked at his back door, which was strange because he was the only one to know about this particular entrance. Careful he took a dagger, ready to kill whomever was behind the secret door but then he heard a voice he knew well. He let the hooded figure entered his home and shop._

_“Long time no see,” said Tobho to the man. “What brings you here?” the man looked around him to be sure no one could spy on them before asking the smith a safe place where they could speak. Tobho brought them to his attic. “Now will you tell me what you’re doing here or I swear on the Seven I’ll—” his words faded in his mouth when his friend opened his cloak. What Tobho took for a bit of weight gain was actually a small boy sleeping peacefully._

_“His mother just died, her last wish was for me to bring him to you,” tears rolled down Tobho’s cheeks. He knew who this little one was – or at least he knew of his existence. But it was his mother he knew better for he held her dear in his heart. The news of her passing away was both painful and sad. “He’ll need a father; I’m more than sure you’ll be exactly that to him. His name’s Gendry, tomorrow he’ll be three. Wish him a happy nameday from his mother.”_

_The next day Tobho introduced Gendry as the son he had with a prostitute in Lys. No one dared asking questions about the mother, they all assumed she was dead otherwise the child wouldn’t be with his father. And the smith kept the charade on until Gendry was old enough to be trusted with the truth. He told Gendry he wasn’t his real son but that never stopped him to love him as such, that both his parents had died a long time ago but they were good persons who cared about their son’s fate and future. Those years with Gendry were, without a doubt, the happiest he had since he was forced to hide himself._

_Unfortunately those happy times ended abruptly. Aerys was on his tail, he knew where he was. How he knew that wasn’t important, Tobho had to leave and the sooner the better. His heart was breaking the moment he understood Gendry had to be left behind otherwise he would put the young boy in danger, the opposite of what his mother had wanted for him when she left him to Tobho. But leaving a note to Gendry would be stupid and would endanger his life as much as him coming on the road with the smith. No he had to go as soon as possible without anyone noticing his departure. Every step away from the capital was a new tear on his face._

“Eventually I found the princesses. They knew me and my skills, my ability to make Valyrian Steel and my former place in the King’s Small Council. Although the place was already taken, they are always open to my suggestions. They are the only hope for the kingdom,” Tobho said this in a whisper, looking at Gendry.

“I don’t know what to say. I…you-you were in the Small Council? I’ve lived with my mother? For three years? Why don’t I have any memory of her? And you knew her?” Gendry stood up having more questions than before. He tried his hardest to remember anything of his mother but nothing came to his mind, not even a song she could have sung to him in order to fall asleep faster, like most orphans do.

“Your mother,” started Tobho before Gendry cut him. Silence observed them, looking at each other, one wanted answers he knew would hurt him more, the other just wanted his adopted son to fill the hole in his heart his mother left when she died. “You were born by miracle. Your mother was said to be barren but she did give birth to you during the worst storm Westeros has ever faced, until the one that happen weeks ago. I was told you were supposed to be named after that storm. Stormborn. That a name anyone would fear, but she decided otherwise. Frankly, the name does suits you considering the fury you were when you were younger.”

“I still am. I set fire to an entire city, I killed Gold Cloaks and ravaged their corpses out of pure anger and hatred, I think the boy I was is long gone. Replace by something I don’t recognise anymore.”

Tobho put a hand on his son’s shoulder which led to the younger man to seek for a hug. He just needed to feel someone supporting him, and not because he awakened a dragon out of stone. He needed his father. It didn’t last long but it was enough for Gendry to feel better. When he was younger Tobho told him that family was the only thing someone can trust and love unconditionally. The problem with family was once trust within is broken it can never be repaired, it will never be the same again. Fortunately for Gendry, that wasn’t happening with Tobho. Once his father, always his father. He was the only family he had and will ever have.

The hour of the wolf hadn’t come yet but it was dark already. Someone knocked at Tobho’s main door, it was light and constant, surely Tobho recognised the knocking for he let the person entered without looking first. Maybe it was Gendry’s habits for living in Flea Bottom, he would have never let anyone entered his shop without checking before. Light footsteps echoed in the forge towards them. Hair as red as fire, Sansa appeared in front of them gently chuckling from the baby snoring into the fire.

“Seems like someone found his bed.”

Gendry looked at the baby. He clicked his tongue and woke up the baby. Sansa informed him she was tasked to show him his room for the remaining of his stay with them. The climbed the highest tower before entering a corridor which seemed endless. His room was the third door before the bridge linking the two towers. He entered the room, expecting it to be a bed, a fireplace and a window but it was so much more. He had a desk, shelves cluttered with books, chairs than looked very comfortable, he even had a table with four seats to eat with his friends. The walls were decorated with tapestries of dragons, wolves, deer and lions. And his bed! Oh his bed was large enough to have two like him sleeping inside while having enough place not to hit each other. Sansa told him the door at the left of his bed was a special room made to bath while the door on the right-side lead to a balcony, although he could have guessed that because the windows saw on the balcony.

“Our best seamstresses are making you new clothes. I doubt the ones already on the wardrobe will fit you perfectly, they might be a bit tight but try them on. Just in case.”

“Thank you. For all of that. I don’t know what you and your sisters are hoping but I’ll try my best to help you.”

“I’m sure you will, not because you have faith in us but because you are born for that. You may not know it yet but soon you will see it. Goodnight Gendry. Goodnight…have you found a name for the baby?”

“I think I have; I just need to check if he likes it.”

Sansa smiled at him before leaving. The baby was already on the comfy bed, rolled in a ball of scales his tails surrounding him like a barrier. Gendry kneeled in front of the creature and scratched its head right were he likes it. Since Tobho had told him about his mother and his birth, he just couldn’t think of something else. _Stormborn. That a name anyone would fear,_ a horrible baby name, really. But the dragon was like him, born during a raging storm. A fury yet to be unleashed upon Aerys. The King will learn to fear the dragon the baby will become, to sense the shivering his name will cause to his body. He leaned near the baby’s ears and whispered his name, just for him to be heard. Just thinking of the name was sending him images of the fearsome dragon he will become once old enough.

“Stormborn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the time you have waiting for this chapter to be posted, last week was all examens and no free time so i had little time to write chapter 6 in addition to a massive laziness from me. More than once I wanted to post chapter 5 in advance. I hope you'll like this new chapter just as much as the previous ones.


	6. A Choice

Next morning someone knocked at Gendry’s door. His daily routine had woken him up earlier than expected but he didn’t mind, at least he had the time to take a bath. The first one in a long time. So he took his time, he enjoyed the bath with Stormborn. The dragon had fun jumping in and out of the water like a trout going upstream, for a moment Gendry thought about the name he gave him, maybe Stormborn wasn’t the right name to fit such clumsy and joyful dragon. Or maybe all dragons were like this during infancy. He could always ask the princesses about that when he’ll see them. Because he had no idea if he should take the water of the bathtub or not, he decided to let the water in so Stormborn could play a little more. Gendry had taken a look to the clothes the princesses gave him but Sansa was right: nothing truly fit him. The shirts were toot tight, the pants too shorts and there wasn’t much space in the undergarments. The only pieces of clothing that appeared to fit him were those he could attached and not put on.

The knock was quickly followed by another one. Gendry put on his old clothes and opened the door, behind it stood a boy. Not older than Lommy or Edric – his apprentices, his boys – and for a second he thought it was Lommy. Alive and well, still the clumsy boy that used to break at least a pot a week but determined to do something with his life. Then the second passed and Gendry remembered how were the boys last time he saw them. With great difficulties he encouraged the boy to speak while battling with his tears.

“Her Grace Queen Daenerys and her sisters Lady Sansa and Lady Arya, want to see you in the council chamber. They ask me to escort you there.

“Alright. Let’s go. Stormborn!” the dragon reluctantly left the warm water of the bath and walked to Gendry. “We can go.”

“This way sir.”

“Call me Gendry. What’s your name?”

“Edric,” Gendry stopped abruptly, like someone had punched him in the guts. No. It couldn’t be! He asked the boy to repeat. “Edwyn.”

He had misheard. But the boy looked so much like little Edric, if Gendry had taken the boys with him, they would be with him right now. If only he had taken more care of them rather than selfishly going away to find food for Stormborn. They deserved better than dying for him. But again, how did they know about the dragon? Had they killed the boys because of Stormborn? He had assumed it was because of him but what if it wasn’t? What if the Gold Cloaks had entered hopping to find information about Tobho? His father had told him the previous day it was the pressure of being found by Aerys that force him into exile, what father would leave a young boy on his own? They must have thought they were still in contact. Or maybe it was just a warning. A way to tell Gendry to behave in the future rather than pushing the Gold Cloaks away by force rather than paying them. One way or another, the boys were dead because of him and him only. He couldn’t sleep without saying their mutilated corpses behind his closed eyes and he felt no satisfaction killing the man the other day. But if he had to do it again, he’ll do it with a second thought.

The boy knew his way around the castle, not once did he lose his way. He told Gendry he was born in Harrenhal like most kids his age were. The community the Queen and her sisters had build within the castle was nothing at first, rumours said they were only three plus Sandor and Jorah then they started recruiting people and gave shelter to those whose village were sacked by Aerys’ forces. Edwyn doubted it was all true but, as his mom always said: there’s truth in lie and lie in truth. He was a very talkative kid but still refused to tell Gendry why the three sisters wanted to see him, maybe he didn’t know, maybe he had been asked not to say a word. Still they arrived at the council chamber in less than ten minutes.

The boy bowed before Daenerys and Gendry had no idea if he should bow too or not, he assumed he had to. Sansa thanked Edwyn and dismissed him for the day. The sisters were sitting at a huge table with Davos, Jorah and Sandor. On the table were books, maps, quills and ink. Gendry thought he had interrupt them in the middle of a class, or what he thought was a class. The only reason he knew how to count, read and write was because Tobho had taught him the basics in order to be sure his son could run the business after him. Gendry had never read poetry or stories he thought nobles like, he had never written love letters he heard women were found of but he did know how to make complex calculus to get paid. Sansa offered him a place to sit. Right in front of Arya who looked half-asleep and half-annoyed by his very presence. Boy could she hold a grudge for something he had never done!

“In the castle on the island I was born there’s a table crafted in the strongest wood there is. It’s about fifty foot long, painted and carved to be a smaller version of Westeros, a true map of the kingdom where I could feel every hills and mountains with my fingers. I still remember the bright blue of the lakes and streams, the piercing white of the North and the warm yellow of Dorne,” a smiled crossed Daenerys’ face, sad and nostalgic of a time where things were simple. “That’s how I’ve learn everything I know about Westeros. You must wonder why I have asked you to come if it’s only for me to talk about my childhood.”

“That’s thought did crossed my mind but I’m sure you’re going somewhere with that,” or so he hoped.

Jorah clunched his fist and jaw, he wasn’t too pleased about how Gendry was talking with the queen but clearly, he couldn’t do a thing because he was asked not to. But Arya warned Gendry to be more respectful of her sister thanks to a dagger she threw in-between his hands, on the table. She was the subtle type apparently, she did think useful to threaten Gendry that the second dagger could go behind the table, in between two other things called his legs. Gendry heard Sandor mumbling something about Arya, they shared a smiled which was scarier than Sandor blank expression. On the other hand Sansa laughed at Gendry’s boldness but did warn him to be careful, not everyone like the hard truth, he was lucky Daenerys was a gentle soul for anyone that wasn’t her enemy. The queen herself didn’t mind Gendry’s words, she preferred to have the truth than having her advisors lying to her to make her feel better.

“There’s a war coming, Gendry. We don’t when, we don’t how, fortunately we know who will be fighting this war: it’ll be us against Aerys and his army. But we need to know more about Aerys, most of our spies had been killed by him, except for our little spider and you have been living right behind his nose.”

“So you want information about Aerys and his army?” they all shook their head. “You don’t want me to fight with you?”

“You would be as useful as a donkey,” said Arya which earned her a slap from Sansa. “Ouch! Sansa! Like we hadn’t discussed about that yesterday. You agreed remember.”

“I said he wasn’t ready for battle, not that he was useless! I’m sure he knows how to fight. And before you say something insulting, again, try to think of how you would react to that comment.”

Arya shrugged her shoulders and insulted Gendry anyway, stating she didn’t care about what he could feel because they had no time to care about hurting his feelings or not. Stormborn chose this moment to climb on the table and made his first flame. It wasn’t big and it didn’t last long but it did leave a burning mark where Arya’s hands were. The baby dragon was furious enough to roar at the princess, what he hadn’t expected was how close Nymeria was. Although her head was too big to fit into the window, she managed to show her teeth to the baby and growled a warning to him.

Gendry looked like a proud father. Stormborn had finally managed to make a flame after all the failed attempt. He scratched the dragon in-between his shoulder blades to congratulate the baby. He was expecting Arya to try to kill him again but the princess was bothered by what Stormborn had just done. Clearly, she had already picked her favourite. Sandor on the other hand already had his sword in his hand, ready to strike Gendry if it was needed. The two men looked at each other, Gendry was unarmed but he had saw the swords above one of the many fireplaces in the council chamber, if they weren’t factice, he could defend himself with one.

“Alright, that’s enough. Everyone, sit down,” Daenerys didn’t need to raise her voice for everyone to listen her. “Arya, we discussed about that didn’t we?” the two sisters looked at each other before Arya sighed and swore to keep her mouth shut. “Thank you. What was I saying? Yes! You have information, you might not know it but everything you have lived since Tobho left is precious to us. Furthermore you need to learn a thing or two,” Arya chuckled. The following second she was hit by a book thrown by Daenerys.

“We decided we’ll teach you everything you need to know to help us defeat Aerys and his army. I’ll teach you the history of our kind, the conquest of Aerys and the history of Westeros from the first king to king Robert and maybe a bit of politics. Daenerys will teach everything you have to know about dragons, of course she is the busiest of us three so you might have those lessons with Arya or me. And finally Arya will teach you military strategy and different combat techniques.”

“We know it’s a lot to process but we have time. Aerys has no idea where we are and the biggest part of his army he stuck behind a wall in the North. But you’ll have to be ready for such training, if you think this is too much for you, we won’t force you.”

The meeting lasted another half hour. The princesses assured Gendry he would always a place within the castle but if he decided to leave Harrenhal with Stormborn they would help him finding the best place to stay. Daenerys let him have the day to give his answer, in the meantime he was free to wander around, give a hand or even work at the forge.

The first thing Gendry did was going to the kitchen to see Hot Pie. He had left his friend alone for a day and he wanted to know how he was doing. Gendry knew nothing could have happen to him, plus Hot Pie was in a kitchen, his favourite place, but he must have heard about Drogon, Nymeria and Viserion and knowing his friend like he did he was sure Hot Pie was panicking.

Gendry had to ask for the way to the kitchen several times. Harrenhal was probably the worst maze ever created. But he found the kitchen and Hot Pie. The head chef of the kitchen told Gendry where Hot Pie was at this hour, he wasn’t expecting his friend to have a break. Harrenhal was crowed how could only one kitchen be enough for all those people? So Gendry went near the stables where he saw his friends eating with a cute girl about two years younger than him. Stormborn jumped off Gendry’s shoulder and ran towards Hot Pie. The girl didn’t mind she even pet the dragon.

“The Big Three let no one touched them, except Viserion time to time but it hadn’t happened for the last two years. You know your arrival made a big impression on everyone here.”

“My arrival? You mean when I came here half drooling on my horse? That made a big impression? Seven Hells,” speak of a hero! If someone were to write a story about him this part should be forgotten. “I’m sorry I wanted to see my friend but you two seem busy, I’ll come back later.”

He whistled Stormborn who jumped on his shoulder. He was gaining weight and soon Gendry wouldn’t be able to carry him. Both were near the stable, so the young man thought of Coal. He walked into the stables and saw the most beautiful horses ever. Some had coat of fire, others had white and huge spots of other colours like Gendry never saw but the most beautiful one was a mare with a grey coat and a silver mane. On her door was written “Silver”, on her right was Dancer the horse Arya came with. A gelding with a chestnut coat and a funny spark in his eyes. And on the left was the mare Davos came with. Apparently, her name was Mercy but Gendry knew she had none. She was a real night-mare. Coal was in front of Silver. Surprisingly he was happy to see Gendry.

The huge stallion knocked his door with his foot, Gendry had seen him doing this quite often. His last owner had told him that stallions are easily irritable and this one was the worst beast he had ever put his fat ass on. But it wasn’t irritability, otherwise he would try to bite, he would have his ears back but Coal was a horse who loved being outside. During their journey to Harrenhal Gendry saw how Coal was calm and enjoying the long day of walk. Coal had already a halter on, the only thing lacking was a rope to walk the stallion. Once he found one the three of them went by the lake.

Viserion and his siblings were nowhere to be found – or so Gendry thought they were siblings; their halves were so why not them? He sat on the grass and let Stormborn play in the water and Coal eat peacefully. Daenerys had left him with a choice: helping them and getting ready for a war he had never intended to be part of but that could bring peace a better life for everyone or leaving for somewhere else with Stormborn and fucking up the last hope the princesses had as well as Stormborn real purpose but they would be safe and sound, away from problems and they wouldn’t get someone else killed. Fighting everyday to see another one was hard on him and he had a better life than most of the children of Flea Bottom but since he had Stormborn he felt something inside him was pushing him to more violence.

He could remember how satisfied he was when he heard the Gold Cloak’s skull cracked, how the blood delighted him because it meant the bastard was dead and that horrified him! He could have killed him by stabbing him properly but no, a little voice in his head forced him to bash his head until no one could figure out what was brain and what wasn’t. What if the war made all of this worst? Stormborn rested his head on Gendry’s lap, he was still wet but his heat would dry him quickly.

“There’s a strong bound between you two, normally something that strong take time,” Daenerys sat next Gendry. Of course Drogon was flying above them. “I think in no time he will be speaking to you.”

“Speaking? Dragon can speak?”

“It’s different from our way to speak, it’s hard to describe but when it will happen to you, you will understand. When Drogon first spoke to me I had no idea who was talking to me, I was young and I thought I was going crazy,” Daenerys laughed sadly.

“Can I ask you something?” the queen shook her head positively. “If I understand well once a dragon hatches for someone something happens between the dragon and the person—”

“Dragon-rider,” corrected Daenerys.

“Yes. Something happens between them, can that thing change the dragon-rider?”

Daenerys frowned but not like she didn’t understand what Gendry was telling her but like she tried to see what was going on in his mind.

“Gendry, once an egg is hatched there is no turning back. All you can do is train to control whatever will happen. Davos told me for the Gold Cloak and I’m not surprised. Fits of anger and bloodlust are usual for us, some of us manage to pass above that others use them to fight and some let them take over. It’s not easy and not everyone reacts the same way. Just trust yourself.”

They sat in silence for an hour. At some point Drogon landed on the lake and properly introduced himself to Stormborn, that’s what Daenerys told Gendry. Drogon tried twice to eat Coal and twice Daenerys had to use that strange language to stop him. She called it High Valyrian, the language of the dragon, only spoke by those bound to a dragon. She taught him how to ask for his dragon to breath fire, a simple word that actually meant dragonflame: _dracarys_. Gendry tried on Stormborn; the dragon was confused at first but he did breathed fire it was something different that the one he had used during the meeting this one had a fire as black as coal with gold swirling like a tornado within his flames. Daenerys applauded the performance, even Drogon growled what Gendry took as proudness.

“There is so much you two could learn. You have a chance my sisters and I never had; you can choose what you want Stormborn to become. You have three dragon-riders who can guide you into the right directions.”

“Or I can have a peaceful life away from Aerys and the war,” Daenerys sighed. She had expected him to take that decision and she respected his choice but she could hide the fact she was disappointed. They needed Gendry and Stormborn but she couldn’t force him to make a decision that wasn’t hers. “You’re lucky I’m not that selfish and that I’m too curious about what we can achieve Storm and I.”

“Believe Gendry, you are born for greatness. You are what Westeros desperately need.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you for waiting so long for this chapter. I've decided to post a chapter once per month because I've just started working, one week out of two is morning hours and I start early, the afternoon i'm just too tired to write so I prefer giving you a chapter per month rather than letting you wait for an undetermined amount of time.
> 
> See you next chapter.


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